Residents in a remote section of the US Aleutian islands rushed to higher ground Monday after an 7.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Alaska triggered a local tsunami warning.

No major damage was reported from the quake, which was initially registered at 8.0 when it struck just before 9pm GMT and whose epicenter was about a depth of about 70 miles. It was followed by a series of aftershocks, including one 6.0 in magnitude.

"There was no panic," Layton Lockett, city manager in the town of Adak, told AFP after he sounded the alarms to evacuate the 150 or so villagers and Navy contractors to higher ground.

"We're a rough and tumble kind of group. We're used to certain types of earthquake, some are stronger.. this one was a little bit more," he added, saying that everyone was back down two hours after initial alert.

The National Tsunami Warning Center initially issued a warning for coastal areas from Nikolski on Umnak Island to Attu Island at the far western end of the Aleutians.